The present invention relates to reel-to-reel carrier systems which are adapted to hold conventional pages containing printed material and present them in an automatic reading apparatus. Such a reading apparatus is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,882,620 entitled Apparatus and Method for the Presentation of Reading Materials. In this patent, a system is disclosed in which reading material is printed on a long scroll which is carried within a reel-to-reel system.
In the most modern machines, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,983,691 entitled Apparatus for the Presentation of Reading Materials, pocketed carriers as well as printed scrolls are carried within reel-to-reel cassettes. Cassette systems are particularly advantageous inasmuch as they allow a reading machine user, who typically may suffer from some disability which makes it impossible for him to use a conventional book, to select from a library of cassettes and thus read a desired publication.
A major development in the evolution of reading machines was the development of pocketed carriers such as the one illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,020,576, entitled Carrier for the Presentation of Pages of Conventional Reading Material. The carrier disclosed in that patent comprised a long backing sheet to which a transparent facing sheet was selectively laminated to form a series of page receiving pockets. In accordance with the embodiment disclosed in that patent, one of the sheets would be made of vinyl or polyethylene and the other sheet would be made of one of the same materials or mylar or paper. Naturally, the facing sheet would have to be transparent in order that pages of reading material inserted in the pockets would be visible through the facing.
While such systems were certainly an advance over conventional printed scrolls because they made it possible to use already existing books and magazines, they did suffer from a number of significant disadvantages. For example, polyethylene and vinyl facing sheets failed to have the desired clarity. This made reading of the scroll tiring to the eyes of users. This situation was aggravated by the fact that the vinyl or polyethylene sheets, in order to have sufficient strength to perform their task, without losing shape or tearing, had to be relatively thick. One of the sheets had to be made out of vinyl or polyethylene because pockets were formed by heat lamination and materials such as mylar did not lend themselves to this process. Likewise, glues are not a practical way of securing facing sheets to a backing sheet. If, on the other hand, a mylar sheet is used as a facing sheet and vinyl as a backing sheet, the thickness of the vinyl (typically about 0.005 inch) required for the necessary strength results in a substantial difference in the length of the paths along which the different layers are wound. The presence of seams between the facing and backing sheets thus results in wrinkling of the backing sheet. An additional problem encountered is the fact that the relatively thick layers of material greatly reduce the capacity of the reel-to-reel system. Still another problem encountered was the sluggishness and friction created by thick vinyl or polyethylene layers. Additionally, the vinyl tended to stretch and lose its shape and thus failed to operate smoothly within the system.
In an attempt to remedy the difficiencies of such scrolls, the adhesive scroll was developed. Such a scroll is described in my co-pending application filed Feb. 28, 1977, entitled Adhesive Carrier and Method for the Display of Reading Materials in Automatic Reading Systems, and bearing Ser. No. 772,982. In accordance with the embodiment disclosed in that patent, a scroll comprising a paper backing sheet and non-permanent adhesive is contained within a reading machine reel-to-reel cassette. When it is desired to use this carrier, pages of printed material are adhered to the carrier in sequence. After this has been done, the pages of printed material adhering to the carrier may be viewed during automatic display by a handicapped individual. Although this carrier suffered from some of the problems of pocketed carriers, it did have a number of advantages. The carrier had a basically one-rigid-layer configuration and it eliminated wrinkling problems due to the temporary and shiftable nature of the adhesive layer. However, the adhesive bacame fatigued with time and use, making the carrier unreliable.
In accordance with the present invention, virtually all of the problems of the prior art noted above are eliminated or very substantially reduced. Longevity, durability and ease of operation are achieved by modification of the adhesive scroll by maintaining the multi-layered construction while varying the composition of the layers and adding additional structural elements to produce a pocketed carrier.